The Wizard of Wonderworld
by Iscreamer1
Summary: In this sequel to "Journey to the Guardian Realms", 8 year old Jamie Bennett and his dog Abby are whisked away by a swirling tornado where they land in the Worlds of Wonder and embark on a strange journey to the Silver City to find the Man in the Moon himself. "Based on the Wizard of Oz and in honor of the film's 75th anniversary."
1. The life of Jamie

Jamie Bennett lived in Burgess, Connecticut. He lived on the suburbs, where the land was a bright, parched green. The forest outside stretched hills and trees as far as the eye could see. The sky above was a cold, purple-blue.

Of course, Burgess wasn't really as muted as all that. But that's how it sometimes seemed to Jamie. Jamie was eight and lived in one of these houses. He lived with his mother, his two going on three year old sister, Sophie, and his Greyhound dog, Abby.

One afternoon, Jamie hurried home from school. Abby scampered along the dusty, dirt road beside him. Jamie was panting and out of breath. He looked back as if he were afraid somebody might be following them. "She isn't coming yet, Abby!" he said. Jamie knelt down and ran his hands through Abby's fur. "Did she hurt you?" he asked. "She tried to didn't she? Come on, we'll go tell Sophie and Mom!"

When Jamie reached the Bennett residence, he pushed open the old wooden gate and raced toward the house. Mrs. Bennett and Sophie were outside, huddled over a bunch of boxes.

"Mom! Mom!" cried Jamie "Mom, just listen to what Miss Hattie did to Abby!"

"Jamie, please!" Mrs. Bennett interrupted "We're trying to hold a yard sale!"

"Yard sale!" Sophie added gently.

But Jamie couldn't stop. "But Mom, Miss Hattie hit Abby right on the back with rake just because she gets in her house and chases her nasty old cat everyday!"

"Jamie, Jamie, please!" his mother cut in again.

"But she doesn't do it everyday, just once or twice a week and she can't catch her old cat anyway and now she's gonna get the Sheriff-"

"Jamie, we're busy!" Mrs. Bennett said, once and for all.

Jamie simply gave up. "Oh, all right. _Maybe my friends will listen._" He thought.

He walked over to a house where his friends, Caleb, Claude, Monty, Pippa and Cupcake were washing a brand new GTO.

"How's it coming?" asked Caleb.

"Take it easy." Claude instructed.

Monty, who was holding the hose, became distracted by the conversation and pointed it at Caleb who got wet from the front.

"You got me all wet!" he cried.

"Why don't you get out of the way?" Cupcake remarked with a sarcastic reply.

Jamie eventually came up to his friends who were by now almost finished with the car.

"Monty," Jamie started right in. "What am I going to do about Miss Hattie, just because Abby gets in her house and chases her-"

But Monty didn't have time to listen to Jamie either. "Listen Jamie," he said. "I've got my own dog to feed."

Caleb and Claude put the hose down and walked over to Jamie. "Lookit Jamie," they said. "You ain't using your head about Miss Hattie. Think you didn't have any brains at all!"

"I have so got brains!" Jamie said hotly.

"Well why don't you use them?" asked Claude. "When you go home, don't go by Miss Hattie's place. Then Abby won't get her house and you won't in no trouble see?"

"Oh guys, you just won't listen that's all." Jamie said.

Caleb put the hose in front of Claude. "At least _your _headisn't made of straw!" he insulted and sprayed the water in Claude's face. Now it was _his _turn to get wet.

Pippa and Cupcake stepped stiffly toward the house that they lived in. "It feels like I'm all rusted." Pippa complained, and then Cupcake turned to Jamie. "Before Pippa and I can test out our wind machine for the school conventions, I'd like to say that Miss Hattie is a poor sour-faced old maid. She ain't got no heart. You should have a little more heart yourself and have pity on her."

"Well, gee, I try and have a heart," said Jamie, doubtfully, then he went over to Monty.

"Listen, buddy," Monty advised Jamie. "Are you going to let that Miss Hattie try and buffalo you? She ain't nothing to be afraid of. Have a little courage, that's all."

"I'm not afraid of her," said Jamie, who was walking on the railings of the picket fence.

"Well, the next time I'd walk right up to her and spit her in the eye. That's what I do."

Jamie lifted his right foot. He fell over the narrow fence, tottered backward and fell into the yard. His friends rushed over.

"Are you all right, Jamie?" asked Claude.

"Yes, I'm all right," said Jamie, though he was a little shaken. "I fell in and – and Monty…" he started to laugh as Monty wiped his forehead. "Why, Monty, you're just as scared as I am!"

"Did that old dog of yours make a coward out of you?" asked Cupcake. They all laughed except Monty who just miffed. "That's a fine thing to say."

Then Jamie's mother came up. "Here, here what's all this chattering when there is work to be done?"

Pippa began to explain. "Well, Jamie was-"

"I saw you tinkering with that contraption, Pippa! Now you and Cupcake get back to that car. Besides, you can't work on an empty stomach, have some snicker doodles."

They each took one. "Thank you Mrs. Bennett," said Caleb and Claude after getting one for themselves. "Someday, they might erect a statue of me in this town."

"And don't start posing the communist salute!" snapped Mrs. Bennett as she handed a snicker doodle to Monty and Jamie.

"Well you see Jamie was walking along the fence and-" Monty began.

"It's no place for Jamie around a pigsty!" Mrs. Bennett yelled. "Now you go feed that dog before he worries himself out of starvation!"

Jamie wobbled his own snicker doodle in front of his mother's face, "Mom, really!" he said. "You know what Miss Hattie said she was gonna do with Abby? She said that-"

But for the third time, his mother interrupted. "Now, Jamie, stop imagining things, you always get yourself into a fret over nothing. Now you just help us out today and find yourself a place where you won't get into any trouble. I gotta get back into the house for some more doodles."

Mrs. Bennett strode back into the kitchen. Jamie stared miserably after her.

A place where there wasn't any trouble . . . Jamie wished he knew of such a place. _It wouldn't be a bit like Burgess,_ he thought, then he asked Abby out loud. "Do you suppose there is such a place, Abby? It must be. It's not a place you can get to by a boat or train. It's far, far away. Behind the moon. Beyond the rain."

_**When all the world is a hopeless jumble**_

_**And the raindrops tumble all around**_

_**Heaven opens a magic lane**_

_**When all the clouds darken up the skyway**_

_**There's a rainbow highway to be found**_

_**Leading from your windowpane**_

_**To a place behind the sun**_

_**Just a step beyond the rain**_

_**Somewhere over the rainbow**_

_**Way up high**_

_**There's a land that I heard of **_

_**Once in a lullaby**_

_**Somewhere over the rainbow**_

_**Skies are blue**_

_**And the dreams that you dare to dream**_

_**Really do come true**_

_**Someday I'll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are behind me**_

_**Where troubles melt like lemon drops and way above the chimney tops**_

_**That's where you'll find me**_

_**Somewhere over the rainbow**_

_**Blue birds fly**_

_**Birds fly over the rainbow**_

_**Why then, oh why can't I?**_

_**If happy little blue birds fly**_

_**Beyond the rainbow**_

_**Why then, oh why can't I?**_


	2. Miss Hattie - Running Away

In a pink 1959 Plymouth Fury, came Miss Hattie looking really steamed up. She wore pink and had a mean personality underneath her innocent exterior. She hopped off her car at the gate of the house. Sophie was there jumping around.

"Hello, Sophie," Miss Hattie started in her sweet voice. "I want to see your mommy right away about Jamie."

"What Jamie do?" Sophie said.

"What has he done?!" Miss Hatte said indignantly before resuming her faux sweetness. "I'm limpin' from the bite on my right leg."

"He bite you?" Sophie asked, not understanding the situation.

"No!" cried Miss Hattie. "The dog!"

"Jamie bite Abby?" said Sophie.

Miss Hattie did not realize that the gate door came behind her and pushed her sturdy body into the house. Mrs. Bennett came to the door.

"Afternoon, Miss Hattie," she said cheerfully. "I just made a fresh batch of snicker doodles if you would like to sit awhile."

"Actually," said Miss Hattie as she sat down in the living room. "I am soooooo shaken by the malicious attack of your son's vicious little Greyhound, I may never eat again!"

"Surely you don't mean that." Mrs. Bennett retorted.

Just then, Jamie came into the room carrying Abby.

"That dog is a _**MENACE **_to this _entire community!_" Miss Hattie gasped as soon as she saw the medium sized dog.

"That's not true!" Jamie argued, holding his pet like an oversized stuffed animal.

"That is true!" growled Miss Hattie. "And I am taking her to the police and I will make sure she is executed!"

"You can't! You mustn't!" cried Jamie. "Mom, Abby didn't know what she was doing wrong! I'm the one that ought to be punished, I let her go in her house! You can send me to bed without supper."

"You hear how sorry my son is!" Mrs. Bennett told Miss Hattie. "How about if he keeps her tied up, she's really gentle…with gentle folk that is."

"I've heard that," Miss Hattie replied pathetically, she then handed Mrs. Bennett a small piece of paper. "That will be for the sheriff to decide. I have his order right there allowing me to take the dog unless you like to go against the law."

Sophie came in and saw the note. "What's it say, Mommy?"

"You gotta hand her over, Jamie," Mrs. Bennett said sadly.

"No!" screamed Jamie before charging at Miss Hattie, "I won't! You go away or I'll bite you myself you wicked old witch! Mom, don't let her take Abby, please stop her!"

"I have an order right here!" Miss Hattie shouted over Jamie's ranting, "I don't care of you suburban people! Put him in the basket and make sure that thing is latched! Thank you, that's more like it,"

Despite Jamie's pleas, Mrs. Bennett sadly put Abby in Miss Hattie's basket, "I've got her at last and there is nothing you can do about it!" the dominative woman cheered before the mother stood up to her. Jamie could do nothing but sob and run up to his room.

"Elmira Hattie, just because you own half the country doesn't mean you have the power to run the rest of us! For 23 years I have been dying to tell you what I thought of you! And now…" she gasped before realizing what she was going to say, it was not going to sound very friendly. "Well, being a good Christian woman, I can't say it."

"I don't take kindly to that sort of talk," Miss Hattie scoffed; she looked to see that Jamie's friends were standing outside, watching the event unfold.

"Anyway," Miss Hattie continued. "In case you kiddies haven't noticed there is a storm coming and I don't plan on getting wet, so could you please excuse me?" She shoved the kids aside and walked over to her car, carrying Abby.

"Goodbye, Miss Hattie," the kids waved in unison as she drove away before…"Blech!"

"Let's get that car done," Monty reminded the other kids, and they soon left.

Mrs. Bennett carried Sophie up to her room, "Come on Sophie, the skies are getting darker every minute." And indeed they were.

* * *

A few minutes later, Sophie came into Jamie's bedroom; he was spilling tears into the sleeve of his green shirt over his 'lost' dog.

"Cheer up Jamie," she said.

"I don't feel like talking Sophie," her brother sobbed. "Not to anybody."

"Not even Abby?" Sophie asked.

"You know she's gone," Jamie said. "That Miss Hattie took her away."

Before things could get even more heartbreaking, Sophie heard barking; she looked out of the window and saw Abby in front of the house.

"Abby!" they both cried. Jamie ran down the stairs to the front door and hugged her.

"Abby! You came back!" Then Jamie realized something. "They will be coming back for you, we got to go away! We've got to run away!"

And so they did. They didn't know where they were going or what they would find.

* * *

Jamie and Abby had not been traveling long when they came upon a brightly colored wagon. On the side was painted a sign. It said:

PROFESSOR DROSSELMEYER

ACCLAIMED BY THE CROWNED HEADS OF EUROPE

LET HIM READ YOUR

PAST PRESENT, AND FUTURE

IN HIS CRYSTAL

A man with brown hair, a beard and dressed a red velvet suit with a tail-coat stepped out of the wagon; it would have to be none other than Professor Drosselmeyer.

"Well, well," he said as soon as he saw Jamie and Abby. "Houseguests, eh? And who might you be?"

Jamie started to answer but Professor Drosselmeyer cut him off.

"No, no, no! Don't tell me! You're traveling in disguise… You're going on a visit…you're running away!"

"How did you guess?" said Jamie, amazed.

"Ha, ha! Professor Drosselmeyer never guesses," he said. "He knows! Now why are you running away?"

Jamie started to answer, but the professor interrupted, again.

"No, don't tell me!" he said. "They don't understand you at home, they don't appreciate you. You want to see other lands, big cities, big mountains, big oceans."

Jamie stared wide-eyed at the professor. He seemed to know everything about him.

"It's just like you could read what was inside of me!" he said.

Abby grabbed a wiener that the professor was eating, but Jamie grabbed it out of her jaws.

"Abby, that's not polite!" he reprimanded. "We haven't been asked yet."

"He's perfectly welcome," Professor Drosselmeyer chuckled. "There's one dog to another. Now where were we?"

"Please, professor," Jamie asked. "Why can't we go with you and see all the Crowned Heads of Europe?"

"You know any?" the professor asked before he realized what Jamie was referring to. "Oh, you mean the sign. I never do anything without consulting my crystal first."

He brought Jamie and Abby into his wagon, it was full of a fortune teller's trinkets. "Just make yourself comfortable," said Professor Drosselmeyer, lighting the two candles and putting on a turban. "This is the same genuine, magic, authentic crystal used by the priests of Isis and Osiris in the days of the Pharaohs of Egypt in which Cleopatra first saw the approach of Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony and so on and so forth."

He put the crystal ball in Jamie's hands. "You better close your eyes for a moment to be in tune with the infinite," the professor instructed. Jamie closed his eyes and could feel the weightless crystal in his own palms as Professor Drosselmeyer looked into his pockets.

"We can't do these things without reaching out into the infinite," he said as he looked at a picture of Jamie and his mom in their Sunday best.

"Now, you can open them," he said to Jamie who opened his eyes at the precise moment. "And let us gaze into the crystal."

He looked in, but Jamie could see nothing. "What's this I see? A house with a picket fence."

"That's our house!" cried Jamie.

Drosselmeyer continued. "There's a very pretty woman with specs, her face is careworn."

"That's my mom," Jamie identified.

"Yes, her name is Emily," the professor said.

"What's she doing?" Jamie asked.

"She's crying," the professor said. "Someone has hurt her, someone has just about broken her heart."

Jamie knew who he was referring to. "Me?"

"Well it's someone she loves very much," the professor added.

"What is she doing now?" asked Jamie.

"She's going into a little bedroom."

"Has it poppies on the wallpaper?"

"I said poppies on the wallpaper!" the professor gasped. "Why she's putting her hand on her heart! She's dropping down on the bed!"

"Oh-!" Jamie began to say before Professor Drosselmeyer even gave him the bad news.

"I am afraid that's all, the crystal's gone dark."

Jamie stood up to leave. "You don't suppose she could be sick do you? I've got to get home right away!"

"What's this?" the professor question. "I thought you were going along with me."

Jamie just scooped up Abby in his arms. "No, I have to get to Mom right away! Goodbye Professor Drosselmeyer, and thanks a lot!"

"Goodbye!" the professor called back. "Safe journey!"

As soon as Jamie and Abby were out of sight, the boy said to his dog, "Come on, Abby! Oh, what'll I do? If we go home, they'll send you to the sheriff. And if we don't, Mom may - well, she may die! I know what I'll do, I'll give you to Pippa! She'll watch out for you!"

Soon enough, Professer Drosselmeyer came running out of his wagon. "Better get undercover," he said to his horse. "Better get under cover, Sylvester, there's a storm blowing up, a whopper, to speak in the vernacular of the peasantry. Poor little kid, I hope he gets home all right."

A sort of storm like a "whopper" promised nothing but trouble.


	3. The Cyclone

As Jamie ran down the road, the sky grew as dark as night. The winds whipped and howled. There was indeed a tornado coming.

Back at the house, the five friends were trying to corral their pets from the street and into their own homes.

"It's a twister! It's a twister! There she blows!" Monty screamed.

"And it's heading straight for us!" cried Cupcake.

"Hurry! Let's get the dogs back in!" Caleb shouted.

"Will do bro!" said Claude and they soon left.

Back in the Bennett household Mrs. Bennett locked everything up tight. "Jamie!" she called. "Where are you? Jamie?"

But the storm raged too fiercely for her voice to carry. Jamie's friends on the other hand, were heading somewhere else. "Come on!" cried Pippa. "Everybody in the storm cellar!"

Mrs. Bennett, however ran back in for Sophie. "Sophie! Sophie! I can't find Jamie! He's somewhere up in the storm! Jamie! We can't leave him out here!" But she knew they had to take shelter now as the tornado was only a few meters away.

Monty's father came to help her. "The only thing we can do now is pray for his soul," he told her.

* * *

A moment later, Jamie and Abby came into the house. "Where is everyone?" wondered Jamie. "Mom! Sophie!" He was beginning to get frightened by the storm and was scared of being alone. They took shelter in his bedroom.

The wind blew Jamie's bedroom window right out of its frame. The glass of the window shattered through Jamie, but instead of bleeding as he expected, a strange thing happened:

The house whirled around two or three times and rose slowly through the air, Jamie felt as if he were going up in a balloon. He looked out the window and saw a couple of notables go by. Was he dreaming? "Abby! We must be up inside the cyclone!"

Two boys and a man in a row boat passed. "Look Abby, there's Tom and Huck with Mr. Gallagher in their rowboat!"

An old woman in a white shirt and red skirt flew by. "Poor Grandma Marie!"

And then cow with a purple hat came by. "Mrs. Callaway the cow!"

Jamie blinked, who should come but Miss Hattie in her car. "Abby, look! It's Miss Hattie! She's after you even up here!"

Before Jamie's very eyes, Miss Hattie had changed into a man on a very big key! "She really is a wicked witch!"

The man let out a highly insane and infectious laugh. "Ooooh, Abby, I'm dizzy!"

In spite of what just happened, Jamie closed his eyes very tightly, hoping to fall fast asleep…


	4. The Smuf Village

He was awakened by a sudden shock! _CRASH!_

Jamie hugged Abby to him. He picked up a nearby basket and tiptoed to the door. He opened the door a crack, then wider. The land outside the door was brilliant with color. Bright, tall flowers seeded the landscape with lush green rolling hills.

While he stood looking eagerly at the strange and beautiful sights, Jamie said, "Abby, I have a feeling we're not in Burgess anymore. We must be over the rainbow!"

Just then, a part hummingbird, part human type of creature followed by three shorter women in red, green and blue appeared. "You are welcome most noble sorcerer." The red one exclaimed.

"What?" asked Jamie.

The hummingbird stepped toward him. "What my friend here is trying to say is, are you a good wizard or a bad wizard?"

"Who me?" Jamie asked again. "I'm not a wizard at all; I'm Jamie Bennett from Burgess."

"Oh, well is that the wizard?" she pointed to Abby.

"Abby? Abby's my dog!" cried Jamie

The hummingbird chuckled; her voice was high and girlish. "Well, I'm a little muddled. The Smurfs have called me because a new wizard has just dropped a house on the Wicked Wizard of the East. There's the house, and here _you_ are and those Silver Boots encrusted with rubies are all that's left of the Wicked Wizard of the East."

"That is the end of him," said the woman in green.

Jamie looked to where the women were pointing. A pair of feet stuck out from underneath the house. On the feet were a pair of ruby encrusted silver boots.

"Eeew!" exclaimed Jamie.

"And so," said the hummingbird. "What the Smurfs want to know is, are you a good wizard or a bad wizard?"

"But I already told you, I'm not a wizard at all," Jamie protested. "Wizards are old and wise!"

A tiny tinkling of laughter sounded the bushes.

"What was that?" asked Jamie.

"The Smurfs," said the hummingbird, smiling, "They are laughing because _I _am a female wizard. A fairy to be exact. I am Toothiana, the Tooth Fairy of the South. And this is Flora, the Good Fairy of the Southwest, and Fauna, the Good Fairy of the Southeast."

"And I am Merryweather, the Fairy of the North," said the woman in blue.

"You are?" Jamie apologized. "I beg your pardon, but I've never seen someone so beautiful before."

"Only bad wizards are ugly," explained Tooth.

"As I was saying," said Flora. "The Smurfs are happy because you have freed them from the Wicked Wizard of the East."

"If you please, what are Smurfs?" Jamie asked. The laughter came again.

"The little people who live in this land is the Smurf Village," said Fauna. "And you are their national hero."

Merryweather gestured toward the bushes, "It's all right, Smurfs. You may all come out and thank him."

_**Come out, Come out,**_

_**Wherever you are, **_

_**And meet the young gentleman **_

_**Who fell from a star.**_

_**He fell from the sky**_

_**He fell very far**_

_**And Burgess he says is the name of the star.**_

_**Burgess he says is the name of the star.**_

_**He brings you good news**_

_**Or haven't you heard?**_

_**When he fell out of Burgess**_

_**A miracle occurred.**_

_**It really was no miracle**_

_**What happened was just this:**_

_**The wind began to switch**_

_**The house to pitch**_

_**And suddenly the hinges started to unhitch**_

_**Just then the Wizard**_

_**To satisfy an itch**_

_**Went flying on his key broom**_

_**Thumping for a hitch.**_

_**And oh, what happened then was rich.**_

_**The house began to pitch**_

_**The kitchen took a slitch**_

_**It landed on the Wicked Wizard in the middle of a ditch**_

_**Which was not a healthy situation for the Wicked Wizard.**_

_**The house began to pitch**_

_**The kitchen took a slitch**_

_**It landed on the Wicked Wizard in the middle of a ditch**_

_**Which was not a healthy situation for the Wicked Wizard.**_

_**Who began to twitch**_

_**And was reduced**_

_**To just a stitch**_

_**Of what was once the Wicked Wizard.**_

"Let the joyous news be spread," Tooth announced. "The wicked old Wizard at last is dead!"

"Hooray!" the Smurfs shouted.

_**Ding dong the Wizard's dead**_

_**Which old Wizard?**_

_**The Wicked Wizard!**_

_**Ding dong the Wicked Wizard's dead!**_

_**Wake up sleepy head**_

_**Rub your eyes**_

_**Get out of bed**_

_**Wake up the Wicked Wizard's dead!**_

_**He's gone where the goblins go below**_

_**Below, below**_

_**Oh, ho**_

_**Let's open up and sing**_

_**And ring the bells out**_

_**Ding dong the merry ho**_

_**Sing it high**_

_**Sing it low**_

_**Let them know the Wicked Wizard's dead!**_

A red clothed Smurf with a beard named Papa Smurf walked up to Jamie.

_**As mayor of the Smurf Village**_

_**In the county of the Worlds of Wonder**_

_**I welcome you most regally**_

_**But we've got to verify if legally**_

_**To see**_

_**If he**_

_**Immorally, ethically, spiritually**_

_**Undeniably, unreliably dead.**_

Reporter Smurf carried a scroll reading "Certificate of Death".

_**As coroner**_

_**I must refer**_

_**I thoroughly examined him**_

_**And he's not only merely dead**_

_**He's really most sincerely dead.**_

Papa Smurf stood up again and made his announcement.

_**Then this is a day of independence**_

_**For all the Smurfs and their descendants!**_

_**Let the joyous news be spread,**_

_**The wicked old wizard at last is dead!**_

The Smurfs cheered again. "Yay!"

_**Ding dong the Wizard's dead**_

_**Which old Wizard?**_

_**The Wicked Wizard!**_

_**Ding dong the Wicked Wizard's dead!**_

_**Wake up sleepy head**_

_**Rub your eyes**_

_**Get out of bed**_

_**Wake up the Wicked Wizard's dead! **_

_**He's gone where the goblins go below**_

_**Below, below**_

_**Oh, ho**_

_**Let's open up and sing**_

_**And ring the bells out**_

_**Ding dong the merry ho**_

_**Sing it high**_

_**Sing it low**_

_**Let them know the Wicked Wizard's dead!**_

Followed by a marching band, Smurfette along with two other girls broke into song and gave Jamie a bouquet.

_**We represent the Lullaby League**_

_**The Lullaby League**_

_**The Lullaby League**_

_**And in the name of the Lullaby League**_

_**We wish a welcome you to the Smurf Village.**_

Musical Smurf led by Greedy and Baker also broke into song and gave Jamie a big lollipop.

_**We represent the Lollipop Guild**_

_**The Lollipop Guild**_

_**The Lollipop Guild**_

_**And in the name of the Lollipop Guild**_

_**We wish a welcome you to the Smurf Village.**_

Then the entire Smurf population began congratulating Jamie with full honor.

_**We welcome you to Smurf Village**_

_**Fa la la la la la la la la la la**_

_**Fa la la la la la la**_

_**From now on you'll be history**_

_**You'll be his-**_

_**You'll be his-**_

_**You'll be history**_

_**And we will glorify your name**_

_**You'll be a bust**_

_**Be a bust**_

_**Be a bust**_

_**In the hall fame!**_

_**Fa la la la la la la la la la la**_

_**Fa la la la la la la**_

Suddenly, there was a shriek and a fiery explosion of red dust with black smoke, frightening the Smurfs and sending them running for cover. Emerging from the smoke was a jet black armored figure with a cape. A symbol on the cape and on the helmet's visor read "Nightmare Dream Eater". Jamie gaped as the figure removed his helmet to reveal a young man with spiky black hair and eyes as red as fire and blood.

"I thought you said he was dead," Jamie whispered to Tooth.

"That was Vanitas, the Wicked Wizard of the East," Tooth explained, "This is Sora, the Dark Keyblade Master of the West. He's worse than the other one."

"WHERE IS MY BROTHER?!" Sora screamed.

"Be yonder he lies," Fauna replied in a mock sadness.

"All right," Sora cried hoarsely. "Who's the smart aleck that turned him into a house?"

"Not _into _a house," Flora corrected. "_Under _the house."

"Under the house," chuckled Sora. "Yeah right, as if-" He looked to see his brother's feet sticking out and screamed very shortly, then he pointed his left index finger towards Jamie. "You!"

"It was accident!" cried Jamie. "I didn't mean to kill anybody! My house… dropped on him."

"Well, little Mr. Clumsy," Sora seethed in anger. "I can cause accidents too- and this is how I do it!"

He raised his Keyblade, ready to strike before the three good fairies stopped him.

"Aren't you forgetting the Silver Boots?" asked Tooth.

"The boots!" Sora cheered. "Yes! The boots."

He went over to the house were the boots lay, but suddenly they disappeared and the feet hid further back under the house.

"THEY"RE GOOOONE!" screamed Sora. "THE SILVER BOOTS ARE GOOOOOOOOONE!" Then he growled and turned at Tooth, Jamie and the fairies. "The silver boots! What have you done with them?! Give them back to me or I'll will-"

"It's too late," Tooth cut in. "There they and there they'll stay."

Jamie gave the shoes a test run and did a little twist with them.

Sora just glared. "Give me back those shoes, please?" he begged as Jamie hesitated.

"Jamie is it?" Sora asked innocently.

The boy nodded.

"Can I call you Jim?"

Jamie was stunned. "What?!"

Sora paced around Jamie in a motion of lecture. "You know, Jim, I'm the only one who _really_ knows how to use those shoes. Therefore they are of no use to you so just give them back to me." But Jamie just ran back to Tooth. "GIVE THEM BACK!"

"Keep tight inside of them." Tooth whispered. "Their magic must be very powerful or he wouldn't want them so badly."

"You stay out of this, Toothiana!" Sora shouted. "Or I'll fix you as well!"

"Rubbish!" Tooth teased. "You have no power here, be gone before somebody drops a house on you too!"

At that moment Sora freaked and hid under his cape to cover himself from being squished. The fairies laughed at this act but grew terrified when he growled low at them.

"Very well!" Sora cackled. "I'll buy my time, but I will have those boots and my revenge too. And as for you my fair man, I can't take it with having you around but just try to stay out of my way, just try! Cause if you do…I will sodomize you my dearie and your little dog too!"

Sora let out a long and most evil laugh that started slow and deep at first, then turned fast and squeaky and in letting out a night black corridor of darkness, he was gone.

"It's all right, you can get up, he's gone." Flora, Fauna and Merryweather said to the Smurfs.

As the Smurfs got out of their hiding places, Tooth spoke to Jamie. "What a smell of sulfur, I am afraid you've made rather a bad enemy of Sora, the Dark Keyblade Master of the West. The sooner you get out of the Worlds of Wonder altogether, the safer you'll sleep, my dear." She gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"I'd give anything to get out of the Worlds of Wonder altogether," exclaimed Jamie. "I am a bit anxious to get back my mom and little sister Sophie, but which is the way back to Burgess? I can't go the way I came."

"That's true," Tooth admitted. "The only person who might know would be great and wonderful Man in the Moon himself. " All the Smurfs and the Three Good Fairies bowed in the presence of his name.

"Man in the Moon?" Jamie asked. "Is he good is he wicked?"

"Oh, very good, but very mysterious," said Tooth. "He lives in the Silver City of Amarganth, that's a long journey from here. Did you bring your Keyblade Rider with you?"

"No, I'm afraid I didn't," said Jamie.

"Then you will have to walk," Tooth said, "The Smurfs will see you safely to the border of Smurf Village and remember, never let those silver boots off your feet for a moment, or you will be at the mercy of Sora."

"But where do I start?" asked Jamie.

"The road to the city of silver is paved with rainbow bricks," said the fairies.

Before Jamie could ask anymore questions, Tooth flew off into the sky with Flora, Fauna and Merryweather in pursuit.

"My!" Jamie gasped. "People come and go so quickly here!"

Jamie stepped onto the rainbow road and the Smurfs crowded around him.

_**Follow the Rainbow Road**_

_**Follow the Rainbow Road**_

_**Follow the Rainbow Road**_

_**Follow the Rainbow Road**_

_**Follow the Rainbow Road**_

_**Follow the Rainbow Road**_

_**Follow the Rainbow Road**_

_**Follow, follow, fallow, follow**_

_**Follow the Rainbow Road.**_

_**Follow the Rainbow**_

_**Follow the Rainbow**_

_**Follow the Rainbow Road!**_

_**You're off to see the Man**_

_**The Man in the Moon**_

_**You'll find he is a Man of Moon**_

_**If ever a Moon he was**_

_**And ever, oh, ever a Moon because**_

_**The Man in the Moon is one because**_

_**Because, because, because, because, because**_

_**Because of the wonderful things he does.**_

_**You're to see the Man**_

_**The Man in the Moon!**_

Jamie started skipping down the road. Abby bounded beside him. The Smurfs cheered and waved good-bye.


	5. Meet North

Before long the Rainbow Road branched off into another. Jamie stopped at the crossroads.

"Now which way do we go?" he asked.

"Pardon me," said a voice. "That way is a very nice way."

Jamie whirled around. "Who said that?" he demanded.

Behind him was a fat man dressed in red and looking like a scarecrow. Abby started barking at him.

"Don't be silly Abby," said Jamie. "Scarecrows don't talk."

"It's pleasant down that way too," the voice said again in a thick Russian accent.

Jamie was surprised to one of the eyes slowly wink at him. "That's funny," he said. "Wasn't he pointing the other way?"

The man crossed his arms. "Of course people do go both ways."

Jamie looked again. "Why you did say something, didn't you?"

The man shook his head no but then nodded yes.

"Are you doing that on purpose, or can't you make up your mind?" asked Jamie.

"That's the trouble," said the man. "I can't make up my mind. I haven't got a got a brain, only straw."

"Well how can you talk if you haven't got a brain?" Jamie asked again.

"I don't know," said the man, "But some people do an awful lot of talking without brains, haven't they?"

"Well then," said Jamie. "We haven't really met have we? I'm Jamie Bennett, how do you do?"

"I'm Nicholas St. North, how do you do? Call me North."

"Very well, thank you."

"Oh, I'm not feeling at all well," said North, sighing. "You see it's very tedious being stuck up here all day long with a pole up your back."

"Oh dear, that must be terrible," said Jamie. "Can't you get down?"

"Down?" North tried to explain, "Well, you see I-"

"Here, let me help you," said Jamie, who went over to the back of the pole.

"That's very kind of you," North replied.

Jamie began to examine the pole. "I don't quite see how I can-"

"Of course," North said. "Maybe if you bend the nail down, maybe I'll slip off and-"

Jamie did so and North fell off the pole. "My goodness, it's good to be free!" Then he stumbled forward and took a tumble over the fence.

"Oh!" said Jamie.

North sat up, grinning. "Did I scare you?" he asked hopefully.

"Of course not," said Jamie. "I just thought you hurt yourself."

North's face fell flat when he saw a crow giving him a laugh of mockery. "You see? I can't even scare a crow. They come from miles around just to laugh at my face. Oh, I'm a failure because I haven't got a brain."

"Well, what would you do with a brain if you had one?" asked Jamie.

"Do!" cried North. "If I had a brain I could-"

_**I could while away the hours**_

_**Conforming with the flowers**_

_**Consulting with the rain**_

_**And my head, I'd be scratchin'**_

_**While my thoughts were busy hatching**_

_**If I only had a brain.**_

_**I'd unravel every riddle**_

_**For any individ'le**_

_**In trouble or in pain.**_

_**With the thoughts you'll be thinkin'**_

_**You could be another Lincoln**_

_**If you only had a brain.**_

_**Oh, I could tell you why**_

_**The ocean's near the shore**_

_**I could think of things I never thunk before,**_

_**And then I'd sit**_

_**And think some more.**_

_**I would not be just a nuffin'**_

_**My head all full of stuffin'**_

_**My heart all full of pain.**_

_**I would dance and be merry**_

_**Life would be a ding-a-derry**_

_**If I only had a brain!**_

Then North began to entertain Jamie with a bunch of dance moves, some of them a bit ludicrous.

_**Gosh, it would be awful pleasin'**_

_**To reason out the reason**_

_**For things I can't explain.**_

_**Then perhaps I'll deserve you,**_

_**And be even worthy erv you**_

_**If I only had a brain.**_

"Wonderful!" Jamie applauded. "Why if my stuffed rabbit back in Burgess could do that, the kids would be scared to pieces."

"They would? Where's Burgess?" asked North.

"That's where I live," Jamie suggested. "And I want to get back so badly I'm going all the way to the Silver City of Amarganth to get the Man in the Moon to help me."

"You're going to see the Man in the Moon?" said North. "Do you think if I went with you this Man could give me some brains?"

"I couldn't say," said Jamie. "But even if he didn't, you'd be no worse off than you are now. But maybe you'd better not, I've got the dark Keyblade Master Sora mad at me and you might get into trouble."

North just scoffed, then cringed. "Sora? Huh! I'm not afraid of him! I'm not afraid of anything…except for a lighted match. But I'd face a whole box full of them for the chance of getting some brains. Look, I won't be any trouble, because I don't eat a thing - and I won't try to manage things, because I can't think. Won't you take me with you? "

"Why of course I will!" said Jamie.

"Hooray!" cried North. "We're off to see a Man!"

Jamie linked his arm in North, then they along with Abby set off down the road.

_**We're off to see the Man**_

_**The Man in the Moon**_

_**We'll hear he is a Man of a Moon**_

_**If ever a Moon he was**_

_**And ever, oh, ever a Moon because**_

_**The Man in the Moon is one because**_

_**Because, because, because, because, because**_

_**Because of the wonderful things he does.**_

_**We're off to see the Man**_

_**The Man in the Moon!**_


	6. Meet Sandy

When they had been traveling a while, Jamie began to feel hungry. Alongside was a grove of gingerbread trees growing plums. Jamie didn't know that Sora was hiding behind a tree watching him.

"Oh look, plums!" Jamie said, reaching to pick one off a branch. Much to his surprise the gingerbread tree grabbed the plum back. "Ouch!"

"What do you think you're doing?" demanded the Gingerbread Mama.

"We've been walking a longs way and I was hungry and-" Jamie began before realizing that the tree spoke. "Did you say something?"

And the Gingerbread Mama said. "How would you like to have someone pick something off of you?"

"Oh dear," said Jamie. This was not the sort of tree he was used to at all. "I keep forgetting I'm not in Burgess."

North came up beside him. "Come on, Jamie, you don't want any of _those _plums."

"Are you saying my plums aren't ripe enough?!" the Gingerbread Mama started.

"Oh no," teased North. "It's just that he doesn't like little green worms, caterpillars and probably little fruit flies too!"

The trees were so frightened that they began throwing their plums all around. As Jamie stooped to pick one up, he noticed a sturdy foot. He looked up and saw a small golden man, standing perfectly motionless as if he could not stir at all.

"Why it's a man!" exclaimed Jamie. "A man made out of sand."

North came up and touch the Sandman before it muttered. "Wake up."

"He said wake me up." Jamie explained to North. With their own hands, they shook the Sandman before his eyes started blinking. "Oh! I can see again! It's a miracle! Now stretch the joints in my arms," he said.

"How did you ever end up like this?" asked Jamie.

"Well," explained Sandman. "About a year ago, I was making a tree made out of sand, when suddenly it began to rain. And right in the middle of a leaf, I feel asleep. I've been that way ever since."

"Well, you're perfect now," Jamie said to reassure him.

"Perfect?" cried Sandy. "Put your hand in my chest if you think I'm perfect. Go ahead, put you hand in it."

Jamie put his right arm through Sandy's chest. His hand came through the back.

"Beautiful!" exclaimed North. "What a trick!"

"It's empty," said Sandy miserably. "The sand god forgot to give me a heart."

"No heart?" said Jamie and North.

"No heart," said Sandy. "All hollow." And then he began to explain his case.

_**When a man's an empty kettle**_

_**He should be on his metal**_

_**And yet I'm torn apart**_

_**Just because I'm presumin', **_

_**That I could kinda human, **_

_**If I only had a heart. **_

_**I'd be tender; I'd be gentle, **_

_**And awful sentimental, **_

_**Regarding love an art. **_

_**I'd be friends with the sparrows **_

_**And the boy who shoots the arrows**_

_**If I only had a heart. **_

_**Picture me a balcony, above the voice sings low.**_

_**Wherefore art thou, Romeo?**_

_**I hear a beat, **_

_**How sweet. **_

_**Just to register emotion, **_

_**Jealousy, devotion, **_

_**And really feel the part. **_

_**I would stay young and chipper **_

_**And I'd lock it with a zipper **_

_**If I only had a heart.**_

After a lengthy dance, Jamie said to Sandy. "We were just wondering if you would come with us the Silver City of Amarganth to ask the Man in the Moon for a heart."

Sandy just shrugged. "Silver City? That's a long and dangerous journey and I don't suppose the Man wouldn't give me one when we got there."

"Oh, but he will!" cried Jamie. "He must! We've come such a long way already!"

Jamie was interrupted by a wicked peal of deep, hellish laughter. He looked up and saw that Sora had landed on top of Sandy's cottage!

"You call that long?" sneered Sora. "Why you've just begun! Forgotten about me, eh? Well, I haven't forgotten about you! Helping the little boy along are you, my fine gentleman? Well stay away from him! Or I'll stuff a mattress with you! And you, Sandy, I'll use you for a beehive! Here, North, want to play ball?"

Sora waved his right hand and conjured up a blazing ball of fire, "_Firaga!_" and it fell near North. He leaped out of the way of the fireball.

Sandy ran up and swatted the fire with his whips to smother it.

Sora laughed with glee and then turned to Jamie who was hugging Abby tightly. "And as for you, my little Jamie, I wish you good luck with the Man in the Moon. And a happy journey back to Burgess!"

Laughing in a wild pitch, Sora vanished in a puff of red smoke. He had done enough damage for the day.

"I'm not afraid of him," said North. "I'll see you get safely to the Man in the Moon now, whether I get a brain or not! Stuff a mattress with me! Hah!"

"I'll see you reach the Man in the Moon, whether I get a heart of not." Sandy agreed. "Bee-hive, bah! Let him try and make a bee-hive out of me! You know, hmm? What's that?"

"Probably just an old drone bee," said Jamie looking at the little bee on Sandy's finger. "But it's just that Sora is so evil. I don't think you two ought to come with me because you'll get into trouble."

"Oh," North reprimanded. "You don't think we're going to stand by and let him get away with fireballs and bees, do you?"

"No sir!" Sandy replied.

"Oh," said Jamie. "You're the best friends anybody ever had! And it's funny, but I feel as if I've known you all the time. But I couldn't have, could I?"

"I don't see how," said North. "You weren't around when I was stuffed and sewn together, were you?"

Sandy pointed to his former position. "And I was standing over there sleeping for the longest time."

Jamie looked down. "Still, I wish I could remember. But, I guess it doesn't matter anyway. We know each other now, don't we?"

North offered his arm to Jamie. "To Manny?"

"To Manny!"

And they started off once again, down the Rainbow Road.

_**We're off to see the Man**_

_**The Man in the Moon**_

_**We'll hear he is a Man of a Moon**_

_**If ever a Moon he was**_

_**And ever, oh, ever a Moon because**_

_**The Man in the Moon is one because**_

_**Because, because, because, because, because**_

_**Because of the wonderful things he does.**_

_**We're off to see the Man**_

_**The Man in the Moon!**_


	7. Meet Bunny

Jamie and his friends traveled farther down the Rainbow Road. Around them, the woods grew thick and dark.

"Oh!" said Jamie. "I don't like this forest! It's dark and creepy!"

"I suppose it will be darker before it gets lighter," said North.

Jamie just shuddered.. "Do you suppose we'll meet any wild animals?"

"We might," said Sandy.

"Animals that eat straw?" asked North, alarmed.

"Some," nodded Sandy. "But mostly lions and tiger and bears."

"Lions?" said Jamie.

"And Tigers?" followed North.

"And Bears." Sandy finished.

Jamie was even more afraid. "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!"

Then the rest of the group joined together, "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!"

Suddenly, there came from the forest a terrible roar and the next moment a big rabbit that looked more like a kangaroo bounded into the road.

"Put 'em up, put 'em up!" he challenged North and Sandy. "I'll fight ya both together. I'll fight ya with one hand behind my back. I'll fight ya with my eyes closed."

"Here, here," said Sandy. "Go away and leave us alone!"

"Scared, huh?" said Bunny. "Get up an fight ya pile of gold dust, put ya hands up, ya fat bag o' hay!"

Abby ran barking toward the Bunny and the great creature had opened his mouth! When Jamie rushed forward and slapped the Bunny across his nose, he cried out, "Don't you dare bite Abby! You ought to be ashamed of yourself a great beast like you!"

Bunny started to cry. "I didn't bite him," he said as he rubbed his nose with his paw.

"No, but you tried to," lectured Jamie. "It's bad enough picking on a strong man, but when you go picking on poor little dogs…"

Bunny sniffed up his tears. "Well, you didn't have to go and hit me, did ya? Is my nose bleedin'?"

"Well, of course not," said Jamie. "My goodness, what a fuss you're making. Well, naturally, when you go around picking on things weaker than you are - Why, you're nothing but a great big coward!"

Bunny wept even more. "You're right, I am a coward. I haven't any courage at all. I even scare myself. Look at the circles under my eyes. I haven't slept in weeks."

"Why don't you try counting sheep?" asked Sandy.

Bunny let a tear run down his cheek. "That doesn't do any good, I'm afraid of 'em."

"Oh that's too bad," North said sympathetically, then turned to Jamie. "Don't you think the Man in the Moon could help him, too?"

Jamie studied Bunny, "I don't see why not," he said. "Why don't you come along with us? We're on our way to see the Man now. To get him a heart."

"And him a brain," added Sandy.

"I'm sure he could give you some courage," Jamie concluded.

Bunny lit up a smile. "Well, wouldn't you feel degraded to be seen in the company of a cowardly rabbit? I would."

"Of course not," said Jamie.

"Gee, that's awfully nice of you," said Bunny, linking his arm in Jamie's. "My life has been simply unbearable."

_**Yeh, it's sad, believe me, Missy**_

_**When you're born to be a sissy,**_

_**Without the vim and verve.**_

_**But I could show my prowess**_

_**Be a lion not a mou-ess**_

_**If I only had the nerve**_

_**I'm afraid there's no denyin'**_

_**I'm just a dande-bunny,**_

_**A fate I don't deserve.**_

_**I'd be brave as a blizzard**_

_**I'd be gentle as a lizard**_

_**I'd be clever as a gizzard**_

_**If the Man is a Wizard who will serve**_

_**Then I'm sure to get a brain**_

_**A heart,**_

_**A home**_

_**The nerve**_

_**Oh, we're off to see the Man**_

_**The Man in the Moon**_

_**We'll hear he is a Man of a Moon**_

_**If ever a Moon he was**_

_**And ever, oh, ever a Moon because**_

_**The Man in the Moon is one because**_

_**Because, because, because, because, because**_

_**Because of the wonderful things he does.**_

_**We're off to see the Man**_

_**The Man in the Moon!**_

As they went down the road with now a group of four, Jamie began to wonder even more if he had known them all along.

Little did they know however, that Sora was watching them…


	8. The poppies

Now Sora had but his brother's magic eye that was as powerful as a telescope and a crystal ball which he could see through all of the Worlds of Wonder. When he saw Jamie and his friends walking through the forest from his castle he cackled, "So you won't take warning, eh? All the worse for you, then. I'll take care of you now instead of later! Hah! When I gain those silver boots, my power will be the greatest in the Worlds of Wonder!"

He grabbed a spoonful of magical red dust a placed a pinch over the magic eye. "And now, my beauties! Something with poison in it, I think. With poison in it, but attractive to the eye and soothing to the smell!"

In the magic eye he could see a field of poppies. "Poppies!" he cried. "Poppies will put them to sleep. Sleep…now they'll sleep…"

In front of the wide field of poppies came Jamie, Abby, North, Sandy and Bunny, Jamie looked out in the distance, towers gleamed in the distance. "There's Silver City! Oh, we're almost there at last! At last! It's beautiful, isn't it? Just like I knew it would be. He really must be a wonderful Man to live in a City like that!"

"Well come on then," said Bunny. "What are we waiting for, mate?"

"Nothing!" cried North. "Let's hurry!"

Jamie ran alongside them, "Yes, let's run!"

The friends skipped through the pretty poppies. "Come, on, come on! Hurry, hurry!" urged North and Sandy.

But Jamie couldn't keep up with the others. "I can't run anymore. I'm so sleepy."

North offered his arms to him. "Here, give us your hands and will pull you along."

But Jamie declined. "No, I have to rest for just a moment? Where's Abby?"

Seeing his dog lying on the flower bed, Jamie collapsed. "Oh you can't rest now, we're nearly there!" said North.

As Sandy wept over this affair, Bunny yawned. "Come to think of it, forty winks wouldn't be bad."

"Don't you start it too!" yelled North, but Bunny along with Jamie and Abby lay down among the poppies and closed their eyes. North tried to pull Jamie off the ground, but his body was literally "glued" to the floor.

"Oh this is terrible!" North cried. "We can't budge him an inch! This is a spell, this is!"

Sandy dropped Jamie's arm. "It's Sora! What do we do?"

He suddenly realized that when there are many of these flowers together their odor is so powerful that anyone who breathes it falls asleep, and if Jamie, Abby and Bunny were not carried away from the scent of the flowers, they would sleep on and on forever!

Sandy would not let him do this. "Help!" he cried. "Help!"

"It's no use screaming at a time like this!" cried North. "Nobody will hear you! Help! HELP!"

Far away, the four good fairies heard their cries, Tooth sent her army of mini fairies to drag Jamie, Abby and Bunny out of the scarlet poppies while Flora, Fauna and Merryweather covered the field with snow to make sure the Baby-Teeth did not get a whiff of the flowers.

Jamie eventually woke up, hair covered in icicles. "Unusual weather we're having," said Bunny. "But I think Sandy's fallen asleep."

As the others went to wake up Sandy, Sora watched from his magic eye. "Dang it! Why does somebody always help that boy?! Shoes or no shoes, I'm still brave enough to conquer him! And all to those who try to stop him!"

Back in the field, Jamie and his friends kept on going down the road with a smile across their cheeks. "Come on! Amarganth is closer and prettier than ever!"

_**You're out of the woods**_

_**You're out of the dark**_

_**You're out of the night**_

_**Step into the sun**_

_**Step into the light.**_

_**Keep straight ahead for the most glorious place**_

_**On the face of the earth**_

_**Or the sky.**_

_**Hold on to your breath**_

_**Hold on to your heart**_

_**Hold on to your hope**_

_**March up to that gate and bid it open**_

Back up in the castle, Sora summoned his Keyblade Glider and flew off in the northern hemisphere. "To the Silver City of Amarganth as fast as lightning! Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha!"


	9. Silver City

_**You're out of the woods**_

_**You're out of the dark**_

_**You're out of the night**_

_**Step into the sun**_

_**Step into the light**_

_**March up to the gate and bid it open, **_

_**Open, **_

_**Open.**_

Jamie and his friends skipped up to the gate of the Silver City. The gate was closed. Jamie rang the bell. A red robot named Fender peered out from a little, round porthole atop the door.

"Who rang that bell?" he demanded.

"We did!" all four friends said together.

"Can't you read?" Fender questioned.

"Read what?" the quartet replied.

"The notice!"

"What notice?"

"It's on the door!" Fender said, and held out his nose in front of everyone so they could see as if it were some sort of literal quip. "As plain as the nose on my face."

Then he held out a sign that read: "Bell out of order. Please Knock."

Jamie knocked on the silver door handle and Fender's mood soon calmed. "Well, that's more like it! State your business."

"We want to see the Man in the Moon!" coursed the friends.

"The Man in the Moon?" scoffed Fender, he never heard of such nonsense. "But nobody can see the great Tsar Lunar! Nobody's ever seen him, even I've never seen him!"

"How do you know there is one?"

"Because he- Oh you're wasting my time!"

"Please sir," pleaded Jamie. "I've got to see the Man. The four good fairies sent me."

"Prove it," barked Fender.

"He's wearing the silver boots they gave him," said North.

Jamie gave Fender a slight twist by showing him the silver boots, the red robot of a doorman was indeed surprised. "Oh, so he is. Well bust my buttons! That's a horse of a different color, come on in!"

Inside the gate, Jamie and his friends were at first dazzled by the brilliancy of the wonderful city. The streets were lined with beautiful houses all built of silver marble and studied everywhere with sparkling diamonds, even the sky above the city had a clear tint. As Jamie and his friends entered, a horse-drawn carriage pulled up beside them.

"Cabby, cabby!" shouted the cabby named Wooly Mammoth. "Just what you're looking for! Take you any place in the city we does," he looked at Jamie and his friends. "So where would you like to go to?"

"Would you take us to see the Man in the Moon?" asked Jamie.

"The Man in the Moon?" wheezed Wooly. "I can't…well, yes, of course. But first I'll take you to a little place where you can tidy up a bit."

Jamie was relived. "Oh, thank you so much. We've been gone such a long time and we feel so mess-" then he noticed a horse in a rich shade of purple. "What kind of a horse is that? I've never seen a horse like that before!"

"No, and never will again, I fancy," said Wooly. "This is Spirit. He's the horse of a different color you heard tell about."

Then they started down the streets, the Silver City proved to be quite a magical place indeed.

_**Ha, ha, ha**_

_**Ho, ho, ho**_

_**And a couple of tra la las**_

_**That's how we laugh the day away**_

_**In Merry Old World that was.**_

_**Bzz, bzz, bzz**_

_**Chirp, chirp, chirp**_

_**And a couple of la di dahs**_

_**That's how the cricketers crick all day**_

_**In the Merry Old World that was.**_

_**We get up at twelve and start to work at one**_

_**Take an hour at lunch**_

_**And then at two we're done**_

_**Jolly good fun!**_

_**Ha, ha, ha**_

_**Ho, ho, ho**_

_**And a couple of tra la las**_

_**That's how we laugh the day away**_

_**In Merry Old World that was.**_

_**Ha, ha, ha**_

_**Ho, ho, ho**_

_**Ha, ha, ha, ha**_

_**That's how we laugh the day away**_

_**With a ho, ho, ho**_

_**Ha, ha, ha**_

_**In Merry Old World that was.**_

Wooly drove Jamie and his friends up to sign that read: _Wash & Brush Up Co._ Inside, North was having his straw replaced.

_**Pat, pat here**_

_**Pat, pat there,**_

_**And a couple of brand new straws.**_

_**That's how we keep you young and fair**_

_**In the Merry Old World that was.**_

Next, Sandy was having his sand sorted out.

_**Rub, rub here,**_

_**Rub, rub there,**_

_**And whether you're sand or bronze.**_

_**That's how we keep you in repair **_

_**In the Merry Old World that was.**_

Then Jamie was having his hair shortened.

_**We can make a different smile of a sort.**_

_**Can you even dye my eyes to match my shirt?**_

_**Un-huh.**_

_**Jolly old town!**_

And finally, Bunny was having his paws sharpened.

_**Clip, clip here**_

_**Clip, clip there,**_

_**We give the roughest claws.**_

_**That certain air of savoir faire**_

_**In the Merry Old World that was!**_

Then they were all finished and left the Wash & Brush Up Co with smile in their hearts.

_**Ha, ha, ha**_

_**Ho, ho, ho**_

_**Ho, ho, ho, ho**_

_**Hah!**_

_**That's how we laugh the day away**_

_**In the Merry Old World that was!**_

At the interruption of a whoosh, the citizens all looked up to see a dark figure riding on a Keyblade Glider skywriting the words "SURRENDER JAMIE OR DIE, SORA DKMW" in black smoke.

"Who's him?" asked Bunny in total fear.

"It's Sora!" cried Jamie. "He's followed us here!"

A woman named Leah also saw the message. "Jamie? Who's Jamie?"

"The Man in the Moon will explain it!" said another woman named Elinor.

"To the Man in the Moon!" shouted a man named Flynn.

Jamie grew more and more scared at the fact is life was at stake. "Oh dear, whatever shall we do?"

"Well, we better hurry we're gonna see the Man!" cried North and they all ran to the palace.

By the time Jamie and his friends got to the gates of the Man's palace, the people of the Worlds of Wonder were crowded there. They were shouting and clamoring to see the Man. In front of the gates was a guard named Stoick.

"Here! Here!" cried Stoick. "Everything is all right. The Great and Powerful Tsar Lunar has got matters well in hand. So you can all go home and there is nothing to worry about. Get out of here! Go on! Go on home and…Go home."

Jamie and his friends pushed through the crowd.

"If you please, sir," Jamie spoke up, "We want to see the Man right away, all four of us."

Stoick glowered. "Orders are: Nobody can see the Great Tsar Lunar. Not nobody, not nohow!"

"But he's Jamie," said North.

"The Dark Master is Jamie?" Stoick said, recognizing the name Sora wrote in the sky. "Well, that make a difference. Wait here, I'll announce you at once."

Stoick marched inside the gate of the palace. Jamie and his friends could scarcely believe their luck.

"Did you hear that?" said North. "He'll announce us at once! I've as good as got my brain!"

"I can fairly hear my heart beating!" said Sandy.

"I'll be home in time for supper!" said Jamie.

Bunny puffed up his chest. "In another hour, I'll be king of the forest! Long live the King!"

_**If I were King of the Forest**_

_**Not Queen, **_

_**Not Duke,**_

_**Not Prince**_

_**My regal robes of the Forest**_

_**Would be satin**_

_**And not cotton**_

_**And not chintz.**_

_**I'd demand each thing, **_

_**Be it fish or foul**_

_**With a woof,**_

_**And a woof,**_

_**And a royal growl.**_

_**As I click my heel**_

_**All the trees would kneel**_

_**And the mountains bow**_

_**And the bulls kowtow**_

_**And the sparrow would take wing**_

_**If I were King!**_

_**Each rabbit would show respect to me.**_

_**The chipmunks genuflect to me.**_

_**Though my tail would lash**_

_**I would show compash**_

_**For every underling.**_

_**If I were King**_

_**Just King!**_

_**Each rabbit would show respect to him.**_

_**The chipmunks genuflect to him.**_

_**And his wife would be the Queen of the May.**_

_**Monarch of all I survey**_

_**Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,**_

_**Aw nuts!**_

_**Of all I survey!**_

Jamie, North and Sandy had then dressed Bunny up in a crown and cape made from a flower pot and a lush green carpet.

"Your majesty?" Jamie asked. "If you were king, you wouldn't be afraid of anything? Not even a rhinoceros, a hippopotamus, an elephant or a brontosaurus? If so, how would you do it?"

Bunny threw his cape off and gave his companions a long winded speech. "How? Courage, mate! What makes a king out of a slave? Courage! What makes the flag on as mast to wave? Courage? What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage! What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder? Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the "ape" in apricot? What have they got that I ain't got?"

"Courage!" the three said in unison.

Bunny chuckled. "You can say that again!"

Unfortunately for him the whole "courage" ordeal shattered as Stoick came back out of the place and knocked Bunny's crown off.

"Go on home! The Man says go away!" he said abruptly. With that, Stoick strode back into the palace and slammed the door shut behind him.

"Go away?" chorused the four friends. They stared at the door that has slammed in their faces.

"Looks like we came along way for nothing," said North.

Jamie sank down on the steps of the palace. "I was so happy!" he said miserably. "I thought I was on my way home!"

Jamie felt worse than he had ever felt. He started to break down into a flood of tears. His friends gathered around him.

"Don't cry, Jamie," said Sandy. "We're going to get you to the Man. We certainly are! How! How are we?"

"Would it do any good if I roared?" asked Bunny, but the question was, who would he roar to?

Jamie sniffled and sniveled and could hardly speak through his tears. "Mom was so good to me, but I never appreciated it running away and hurting his feelings. Professor Drosselmeyer said she was sick. She may be dying and it's all my fault! Oh, I'll never forgive myself! Never, never, never!"

Jamie didn't know it, but Stoick was watching him through a peep window on the door and cried along with him. "Please don't cry anymore. I'll get you into the Man somehow. Come on. I had a mother myself once."

Stoick flew open the doors to the place and the four friends piled in and crept down a long hallway with a large arched ceiling. Halfway down, Bunny stopped short.

"Wait a minute, mate!" he said. "I was just thinkin'. I really don't want to see the Man this much. I better wait for you outside."

He turned on his heel to go, but his friends grabbed hold of him.

"What's the matter?" asked North.

"Oh, he's just ascared again," said Sandy.

Jamie tried to reassure the big rabbit. "Don't you know the Man's going to give you some courage?"

"I'd be too scared to ask him for it," bawled Bunny.

"Well, then we'll ask him for you," Jamie offered.

"I'd sooner wait, mate," said Bunny. "I'm still scared someone is pulling my tail and what is that sound?"

"That's just our echo," said Jamie.

"You did that tail thing by yourself," put in North.

At the end of a hall were two tall doors.

"The Great Tsar Lunar, come forward!" boomed a voice.

Bunny covered his eyes with his paws. "Tell me when it's over."

The four friends entered the Man's chamber. At one end was a huge pipe organ. Classical music flowed from each end. No person sat on the keyboard. Instead, a large metallic face with a crown seemed to view them from the top of the central pipes.

"Look at that! Look at that!" cried Bunny. "I want to go home!"

"I am Tsar Lunar, the Great and Terrible," announced the organ. "Who are you?"

None of the four who huddled together could say a word.

"Who are you?" Tsar Lunar demanded again even louder.

Jamie stepped forward with shaking legs. "If you please…I am Jamie, the small and meek. We've come to ask you-"

"SILENCE!" boomed Tsar Lunar. "The great and powerful Tsar Lunar knows why you have come! Step forward, Sanderson ManSnoozie!" Loud notes of music in the form of green sheets sparked up from the pipes. "Jiminy Crickets!" shrieked Jamie. He shoved Sandy forward.

"You dare ask me for a heart, do you?" accused the Tsar. "You clinking, clanking, clattering collection of caliginous junk!"

"Yes, Your Honor," said Sandy. "You see a while back, we were walking along the rainbow road and-"

"QUIET!" boomed the Tsar as Sandy backed away. "And you, North, have the effrontery to ask for a brain, you billowing bale of bovine fodder."

North groveled and trembled to his feet. "Yes, Your Honor. I mean Your Excellency. I mean Your Wizardry."

"Enough! And you, E. Aster Bunnymund!" said the Tsar. He seemed to be waiting for some type of answer. "Well?"

Bunny tried to speak, but he fainted in front of the keyboard as the fear inside stopped him. Jamie rushed up to help, he was furious at the Tsar.

"You ought to be ashamed of yourself!" he scolded. "Frightening him like that when he came to you for help!"

"Silence, whippersnapper!" commanded Tsar Lunar. "The beneficent Man in the Moon has every intention of granting your requests!"

Suddenly, Bunny woke up. "What did he say?"

"But first," said Tsar Lunar. "You must prove yourselves worthy by preforming a very small task: Kill Sora, the Dark Keyblade Master of the West."

"And in return?" asked Sandy.

"Bring me his Keyblade Glider and I will grant your requests," commanded Tsar. "Now go!"

"But what if he kills us first?" asked Bunny.

"I SAID GO!"

Tsar Lunar's voice coupled with blasting notes of music echoed off the walls of the hall and reverberated through the room. Bunny was so terrified that he ran out of the room and dove straight through a window with a crash. The rest of his allies surveyed the damage done.

"Well, I guess there is nothing else to do but take Sora down," said Jamie, hopefully.


	10. The Forbidden Forest

To find Sora, Jamie and his friends had to pass through a dark and eerie forest with a net, an axe, a wrench, a pistol and an extinguisher.

_FORBIDDEN FOREST, _said a sign. _SORA'S CASLTE 1 MILE. I'D TURN BACK IF I WERE YOU!_

Bunny read the sign. The forest was so frightful that he'd be too happy to turn back..

Two owls and two crows blinked down at the friends from a tree, their eyes glowing like fire in the dark.

"From now on," instructed Sandy. "we're on enemy ground. You should have something to protect yourself with."

"He can have my Keyblade Remover," quivered Bunny.

"Does it work?" asked Jamie.

"No, but it's wonderful for threatening with," Bunny replied.

North grabbed the extinguisher, the spray hit the ground and then vanished…just as the net flew out of Bunny's hand.

"You know something? I believe there's spooks around here, like fearlings and such," said North.

"Spooks? That's ridiculous!" scoffed Sandy. "That's silly! Spooks!"

"Don't you believe in them?" asked Bunny.

"No! I think-"

Before he could say anything, Sandy was lifted off the ground by invisible hands and came back down with a crash.

"Sandy! Are you all right?" cried Jamie and North.

Bunny clutched his paws together. "I do believe in spooks. I do believe in spooks. I do, I do, I do."

In his castle, Sora was watching the four friends from his magic eye.

"You'll believe in more than those spooks before I'm finished with you!" he squawked.

Sora went to his window, his army consisting of Unversed were poised at the edge, ready to do his bidding.

"Go to the strangers who are within my land and destroy them all except the boy and his dog," Sora commanded Flood, the leader of his Unversed. "Bring those two alive and unharmed to me! They'll give you no trouble I promise you that. I sent Berkley Beetle along ahead to take the fight out of them. Take special care of those silver boots, I want those most of all! Now fly! Fly!"

Soon the sky was filled with Unversed, flapping loudly as they made their way to the Forbidden Forest.

Indeed, Sora had sent a pink and blue beetle named Berkley to sting Jamie and his friends into a wild dance.

_**Did you just hear what I just heard?**_

_**That noise didn't come from an ordinary bird**_

_**It may be just a cricket or a critter in the tree**_

_**It's giving me the jitters in the joints around my knees**_

_**I think I see a jijik and he's fuzzy and he's furry**_

_**I haven't got a brain but I think I ought to worry**_

_**I haven't got a heart but I feel a palpitation**_

_**As monarch of the forest I don't like the situation **_

_**Are you gonna stand around and let them fill us full of horror?**_

_**I'd like to roar them down... But I think I lost my roarer.**_

_**It's a whozits**_

_**It's a whozits**_

_**It's a whatzis**_

_**It's a whatzis**_

_**Who's that?**_

_**Who's that?**_

_**Who's that?**_

_**Who's that?**_

_**Who's that hiding in the tree top?**_

_**It's that rascal, Berkley Beetle!**_

_**Should you catch him buzzing 'round you,**_

_**Keep away from, Berkley Beetle!**_

_**Oh! the bees in the breeze and the bats in the trees have a terrible, horrible buzz,**_

_**But the bees in the breeze and the bats in the trees couldn't do what Berkley Beetle does!**_

_**So be careful of that rascal, **_

_**Keep away from Berkley Beetle!**_

_**Berkley Beetle!**_

_**Oh! The Berkley! **_

_**Oh The Beetle!**_

_**Oh! Berkley Beetle, **_

_**Bug-a-bug, bug-a-bug, bug-a-boo.**_

_**In a twitter, **_

_**In the throes, **_

_**Oh the critter's got me dancing on a thousand toes, **_

_**Thar' she blows!**_

And so after a masterful jitterbug contest, the Unversed spotted Jamie and his friends (who had quickly snapped out of the trance) and swooped down at them.

"Help! Help! Help!" shrieked Jamie as he tried to run away from them. More Unversed jumped on North, pulling his straw out and a few more tried grabbing the axe out of Sandy's hand. The Archraven Unversed who chased Jamie grabbed him by the back of his shirt and flew him up into the sky.

"Abby! ABBY!" Jamie screamed.

The Greyhound looked up at his master screaming his head off. Abby barked furiously as another Archraven grabbed her up and tucked her under the claws. It flew after Jamie.

The Unversed army's job was finished and took off for the castle, leaving North, Sandy and Bunny helpless on the ground.

"What happened?" asked Sandy as he saw North lying there on his back. His straw had been scattered every which way.

"First they tore my legs off and they threw them over there," North began to explain. "Then they took my chest out and they threw it over there."

"Well that's you all over," said Sandy.

"Don't just stand there talking! Put me together!" cried North. "We've got to find Jamie!"

The two begin putting North back together, Sandy feared the worse. "Oh, poor Jamie. We may never see him again."

"Who do you suppose they were and where did they take him?" asked North. "A fine thing – to go to pieces at a time like this!"

"Now, don't fret," said Sandy. "We'll put you back together."


	11. The Castle of Sora and rescuing Jamie

High atop a mountainous rock sat Sora's castle. The man himself was in his tower clutching Abby in his lap.

"What a nice little dog," he sneered.

Sora dropped Abby into a basket and closed the lid. He handed the basket to Flood, then turned to Jamie.

"And you my dear," he said. "What an unexpected pleasure. It's so kind of you to visit me in my loneliness."

"What are you going to do with my dog?" Jamie cried anxiously.

"What do you think I'm going to do?" said Sora menacingly.

"Give her back to me!"

"All in good time, my boy. All in good time."

"Please give me back my dog!"

"Certainly, certainly," said Sora. "When you give me those boots."

Jamie shook his head. Tooth and the three fairies told him not to give them up no matter what. "But the good fairies told me not to!"

"Very well!" cried Sora, who smiled an evil smile. "Throw that basket in the river and drown her!"

But Jamie had another idea; he took one of the boots off his left foot and called to Sora. "Here! You can have your old shoes, just give me back Abby!"

Sora was so pleased that he grabbed the shoe out of Jamie's hand and put it on himself. "Good boy," he cheered. "I knew you would see reason."

He curled his fingers and conjured up a magnetizing spell to get the other shoe off of Jamie's right foot more easily. Sora was expecting for the shoe to get on his own right foot, but nothing happened, it just stayed there on Jamie's foot as if it refused to leave his new owner. Sora tugged with the magnetizing spell again and again and again, but the shoe would not come off.

By now Sora was exhausted from all that tugging, and Jamie who had his feet firm to the ground tried to reason with him. "I'm sorry, I didn't do it," he apologized. "Can I still have my dog?"

Sora squinted at Jamie's beady little eyes, then shouted, "NO! Fool that I am! I should have remembered! That shoe will never come off as long as you're alive! But that's not what's worrying me, it's how to do it. These things must be done very delicately so as not to hurt the spell."

Just then Abby poked her head out of the basket. "Run, Abby, run!" shouted Jamie.

Sora spotted Abby, too and even called out to Flood, "Catch him, you fool!"

Flood took off after Abby, but the Greyhound was quick and agile. She streaked down the steps of the tower. When she got to the entrance of the castle, the drawbridge was just starting to rise. Abby raced to the edge of the drawbridge, jumped off it and over the moat, landing safely to the opposite shore.

Flood had summoned the guards of Sora's castle, red blue painted warriors called Atzec Guards, led by Sora's great aunt's bodyguard and henchman Kronk. The Aztec Guards chased after Abby, carrying long spears and hurled them at her on the ground below. Jamie watched the chase from the window high up in the tower.

"Run Abby, run!" he urged. "Run Abby, run!"

Abby dodged the Aztec Guard's spears and scrambled for cover behind the rocks of the mountain.

"She got away!" cried Jamie, relived. "She got away!" then he turned to Sora, who could not believe his eyes. "At least we'll get away from you!"

And Jamie was about to escape through the door, but Sora held him back by the collar of his shirt. "Which is more than you will!" he threatened. "Drat you and your stupid dog! You've more trouble to me than you are worth one way or another, but it will soon be over now!"

Sora grabbed up a tall hourglass, turned it over and set it back down on the table.

"Do you see that?" he said, as the sand in the hourglass began shifting to the bottom. "One hour. That is how much longer you've got to be alive while I am making a fresh batch of poison. And it isn't very long, my boy! It isn't very long at all! I can't wait forever to get the other shoe!"

As Sora stormed out of the room, Jamie asked to himself, "How can anyone be so mean and nasty?"

But Sora heard this and replied. "Practice! Lots and lots of practice! But it is fact of life, kid!" then he left the room, leaving Jamie alone, standing next to the hourglass.

* * *

As the sand ran through the hourglass, Abby scrambled down the rocks of the mountain. In the forest, she saw a clearing, and there were Sandy and Bunny who were re stuffing North's straw back into him. They were just about finished.

"There," said Sandy. "Now, that's the best we can do without any pins."

"Oh, don't worry about me," exclaimed North. "I'm all right. We must worry about Jamie."

"But how can we find him?" asked Sandy. "We don't even know where he is."

Then he heard a barking sound. "Look! There's Abby! Where did she come from?"

"Don't you see?" said North, scrambling to his feet. "She's come to take us to Jamie!"

Abby barked excitedly and led them to the trail. North, Sandy and Bunny followed as the Greyhound clambered up the steep, rocky mountain. Sandy lost his footing and he grabbed onto Bunny's puffy tail.

"I-I hope my strength holds out," Bunny said.

"I hope your tail holds out, ooh!" Sandy answered.

* * *

Back up in the tower, Jamie watched the sands of the hour glass falling down, he went to the door and struggled to open it, but it was locked. Tears soon fell out of his eyes and with his head down; he slowly walked over to Sora's magic eye and sat down next to it.

"I'm not going to cry," he whimpered. "I'm not going to.."

_**Someday I'll wake and rub my eyes**_

_**And in that land beyond the skies**_

_**You'll find me…**_

* * *

Eventually, Abby, North, Sandy and Bunny came to the top of the peak and saw the turreted castle that stood dark and menacing against the night sky.

"What's that? What's that?!" asked Bunny.

"That's castle of Sora, the Dark Keyblade Master!" said North. "Jamie's in that awful place!"

Sandy started to worry. "Oh I hate to think him in there. We've got to get him out!"

As North reassured Sandy, Bunny noticed something. "Who's them? Who's them?!"

He was pointing at the Aztec Guards marching into view, their red and blue war paint and sharp spears made look impossible for the trio to get past them and into the castle.

"I've got a plan how to get in there," said North.

"Fine," jeered Bunny. "He's got a plan."

"And you're going to lead us," added North.

"Me? I've got to get him out of there?" Bunny gulped, but then summed up every ounce of the strength he had. "All right, I'll go in there for Jamie. Sora or no Sora, guards or no guards, I'll tear 'em apart. I may not come out alive, but I'm going in there. There's only one thing I want you fellows to do."

"What's that?" North and Sandy said together.

"Talk me out of it," Bunny replied in a weaker voice.

The frightened rabbit tried to back away from the peak, but North and Sandy quickly grabbed him back up.

* * *

In the tower, Jamie didn't know what to do. As he was still near the magic eye, he curled up into a ball and silently sobbed.

_**Somewhere over the rainbow,**_

_**Blue birds fly**_

_**Birds fly over the rainbow**_

_**Why then,**_

_**Oh, why can I?**_

"Mom…" he whispered. "I'm frightened, Mommy. I'm scared and lost."

Just then, an image of Jamie's mother appeared in the magic eye. She was looking all around for her son.

"Jamie!" she called. "Jamie, where are you? It's me, it's Mom. We're trying to find you. Where are you?"

In a weakened state, Jamie called out to the image of his mother. "I'm here in the Worlds of Wonder, Mom. I'm locked up in Sora's castle, and I'm trying to get home to you, Mom!"

But it didn't look like his mom could see or hear him at all. The worried image of Mrs. Bennett's face faded from the magic eye.

"Oh, Mom, don't go away!" Jamie cried. "I'm frightened, scared and alone! Come back! Come back!"

As he gave a weak cry, Jamie saw another image: the face of Sora giving him a stare of horror.

"Oh, Mommy! Mommy, come back!" Sora whined, mimicking Jamie. Then in his normal voice, he said. "I'll give you your mommy, you big baby!"

Sora threw his head back and laughed a long and terrifying cackle that started slow and deep, then turned fast and squeaky. Jamie, horrified by the laughing image collapsed onto the floor, a hopeless tear streaming down his cheek as he saw the sand from the hourglass streaming down to the bottom. Time was running out.

* * *

Back on the cliff, North, Sandy and Bunny along with Abby gave a closer inspection upon the marching soldiers. As they did, Abby started barking which attracted three of the Aztec Guards who had seen the intruders and pounced on them. A scuffle ensued and just when it looked like that the friends were doomed, they came out alive wearing the guards' war paint, helmets and spears.

"Whew!" sighed North. "That wasn't my plan – but something happened, didn't it?"

"You put up a great fight, Bunny," agreed Sandy. "I don't know what we'd have done without you."

"Hah," laughed Bunny. "I must have bitten you a couple of times."

Noticing that the disguises were perfect for getting into Sora's castle, North said. "Come on, I've got another idea."

Bunny, however, was unsure. "Do you think it will be polite dropping in like this?"

But still, he and the others continued ahead and fell in line with the rest of the Aztec Guards over the drawbridge and into the castle. Once they were inside, Sandy ducked behind a wall and asked. "Where do we go now?"

Abby barked at the friends and bounded up the steps of the stairs.

"There!" cried North, realizing that Abby was trying to lead them Jamie.

The trio scrambled up the steps and led to Sora's tower.

At the top of the steps was a door, it led to the room where Jamie was, but the door was locked. Abby scratched and barked.

North stopped at the door. "Wait, we better make sure," he said to Sandy and Bunny, then called out. "Jamie, are you in there? It's us!"

Inside the room, Jamie woke up from his weakened state, and gathering all his strength, he ran to the door.

"Yes, it's me!" he cried. "He's locked me in!"

Bunny began to wipe off the war paint and hats, then tried opening the door, but it wouldn't budge. "We've gotta get him out, mates! Open the door! Open the door! Open the door! Push!"

"Hurry, please hurry!" cried Jamie, he saw that the sand in the hourglass was running low. "The hourglass is almost empty!"

Sandy made his sand axe and began chopping at the wood of the door with every bit of strength he had. "Stand back!"

As the last grains of sand fell through the hourglass, Sandy broke through the door. Jamie flew into the arms of his friends. He hugged Abby as soon as he saw her.

"Oh, Abby, I'd knew you'd come!"

"Hurry!" cried North. "We've got no time to lose!"

The four friends raced back down the long staircase that led to the entrance of the castle, the doors were open but they suddenly closed as soon as quartet reached them. A slow and fast laugh sounded the room; it was Sora standing at the top of the stairway, watching them.

"Going so soon?" he asked sarcastically. "I wouldn't hear of it. Why my little party's just beginning."

Sora held up the empty hourglass, Bunny knew their time was definitely up. "We're trapped like mice, er, rats!"

"Go ahead," suggested Sandy. "Do something! Roar! Roar!"

"What good will it do us?" Bunny asked.

As Sora laughed his "slow to fast" laugh, a large battalion of Aztec Guards led by Kronk raced into the hall, their spears were raised, surrounding the four friends and closing in on them step by step.

"That's right, don't hurt them right away," coached Sora. "We'll let them _think_ about it a little, first!" He looked at Jamie. "How does it feel my little visitor? Can you imagine what I'm going to do to you?"

The Aztec guards closed in, but North thought hard and fast, and using Sandy's axe, cut loose a rope holding a chandelier. It crashed from the ceiling and fell on the Aztecs. In the confusion, the quartet broke through the line of guards.

"Seize them! Stop them, you fools!" cried Sora. "They've gotten away! Stop them! Stop them!"

The guards chased Jamie and his friends up the stairs.

"There they go!" shouted Sora. "Now we've got them! Half of you go that way, half of you go that way! Hurry! Hurry!"

When the four reached the top of the tower, they came to a narrow parapet that led to a second tower.

"Where do we go now?" asked Bunny.

"This way! Come on!" cried North.

But as they reached the second tower they were cut off by the guards. They ran back the way they came, but Sora and the Aztec Guards were coming at them from each direction…they were trapped.

"Well!" laughed Sora. "Ring around the rosy a pocket full of spears! Thought you'd be pretty foxy, didn't you? Well, I'm going to start in on you right here, one after the other! And the last to go will see the first three go before him! And his mangy little mutt, too!"

Jamie trembled as he knew that Sora was talking about him, he saw that the dark room was lit by torches that lined the walls. As the quartet watched, Sora lifted his Keyblade and torched a fire spell onto the tip. He poked it menacingly at North.

"How about a little fire, North?" Sora teased. "What's wrong? Don't you want to be my old flame?"

North jumped to escape the fire, but his arm started flaming when the Keyblade touched his straw.

"Help!" he cried. "I'm burning! I'm burning!"

Jamie couldn't stand to see his friend like this and he decided to fight back with the only weapon he had: A pail of water courtesy of Flood. Jamie tossed the water onto North's arm which doused the flames, but some of it splashed Sora in the face. Instantly, the wicked teen gave a loud cry of fear and then began to shrink.

"See what you have done!" he screamed. "In a minute, I shall, I shall…turn good again?"

And indeed he did, Sora looked at himself and saw that he had his old look and personality again, before Vanitas's transformation on him all those years ago. He was so happy that he cried tears of joy, which caused him to dissolve even further.

"I never would have thought a good little boy like you could destroy my beautiful evil," said Sora in a relieved voice. "Bye, everyone, I'm going…"

As the quartet looked on, Sora was turning into a big puddle of natural, clear water until there was nothing left of him except his helmet, cape, armor, the other shoe and the Keyblade.

"He's dead!" Kronk murmured. "You killed him!"

"I didn't mean to kill him," Jamie protested. "It's just that he was on fire and-"

Instead of attacking Jamie like he had expected, the Aztec Guards and Kronk dropped to their knees.

"Hail to Jamie! The Keyblade Master is dead!" They announced.

Jamie surprised. "You mean…you're all happy about it?"

"Very happy," said Kronk. "He won't be able to hit us with that big key anymore!"

For the second time, Jamie was a hero, then he asked. "The Keyblade, may we have it?"

"Here. And take it with you!" said Kronk, handing Jamie the Key.

"Oh, thank you so much!" cried Jamie as he reclaimed the other shoe. "Now we'll go back to the Man in the Moon and tell him Sora is dead!"

_**Hail! Hail! The Master's dead!**_

_**Which old master?**_

_**The Keyblade Master!**_

_**Hail! Hail! The Keyblade Master's dead!**_

_**Hail! Hail the Master's dead!**_

_**Which old master?**_

_**The Keyblade Master!**_

Soon enough, Jamie and his friends made a triumphant return to the Silver City led a marching band. People from all over congratulated them for their efforts.

_**Hail! Hail! The Keyblade Master's dead!**_

_**He's gone where the goblins go below**_

_**Below, below,**_

_**Yo, ho**_

_**Let's open up and sing**_

_**And ring the bells out**_

_**You're off to see the Man**_

_**The Man in the Moon.**_

_**Let him know the Keyblade Master's dead!**_

_**Hail, the Keyblade Master's dead!**_

After much applause and thanks from the citizens of the Silver City, Jamie, North, Sandy and Bunny entered through the palace gates.


	12. The wizard revealed

Inside the Man in the Moon's throne room. The crowned face of the big pipe organ hovered over the seat, just as it had before.

"Can I believe my eyes?" Tsar Lunar boomed. "Why have you come back?"

Jamie stepped forward, he laid the Keyblade at the steps leading to the keyboard. "Please, sir. You've done what you've told us: We brought you the Keyblade of Sora. We melted him."

The Tsar was pleased. "Oh, you liquidated him, eh? Very resourceful."

"Yes, sir," said Jamie. "So we'd like you to keep your promises, if you please."

"Not so fast! Not so fast!" shouted the Tsar. "I'll have to give the matter a little though. Go away and come back tomorrow!"

"Tomorrow?" whined Jamie. "But I wanna go home _now!_"

"You've had plenty of time already!" put in Sandy.

"Do not arouse the wrath of the great and powerful Tsar Lunar! I said come back tomorrow!"

"If you were really great and powerful, you'd keep your promises!" Jamie argued.

But instead of a proper answer, the tsar just bellowed. "You presume to criticize the great Lunar?! You ungrateful creatures think yourself lucky that I am giving you audience tomorrow instead of twenty years from now! The great Tsar Lunar has spoken!"

As the crowned head of the pipe organ kept on booming at them, Abby jumped up at him in alarm and tipped over a nearby screen. As it fell with a crash, they looked and all of them were filled with wonder for they saw a little man with a bald head, (save for a cow-lick) and big teenager with a pale face, white strands of hair and a blue hoodie.

"Who are you?" Jamie asked.

"I am Tsar Lunar, the Great and Terrible!" said the little man in a trembling voice. "And this is Jack Frost, the Great and Powerful. But please, don't strike us."

"You are?" said Jamie. "I don't believe you!"

"I'm afraid it's true," said the teen whose name was Jack Frost. "There's no other Man in the Moon except him. I'm just his assistant."

"You humbug!" cried North.

"Yes, that's exactly what I am so I'm a humbug," the man admitted.

"Oh you're a very bad man!" Jamie exclaimed.

"No," consoled the man. "I'm a very good man. I'm just a very bad wish-giver."

"You'd better be good enough to send Jamie back to Burgess!" reprimanded North.

"Please don't be angry with me," said Manny. "I'll do anything you say, only... only if you don't shout at me. It makes me nervous!"

"It makes you nervous?" North asked suspiciously. "Well, what about the heart that you promised Sandy? And the courage that you promised Bunny?"

"And North's brain!" Sandy and Bunny cried in unison.

"But you've got them," said Manny, hoping for a polite response. "You had them all the time!"

"No, we haven't!" the friends said all together.

"You don't get us around that easy!" said Sandy.

"Not nohow!" added Bunny.

"You promised us real things! A real brain!"

"A real heart!"

"Real courage. That's what we want."

"You do?" asked Manny. "Boys you're aiming low. You not only surprise, but you grieve me."

"Manny does have a point," said Jack, sighing. "Why, anybody can have a brain. That's a very mediocre commodity. Every pusillanimous creature that crawls on the earth or slinks through slimy seas has a brain from the rock-bound coast of Maine to the Sun. Back where I come from we have universities, seats of great learning where men go to become great thinkers. And when they come out, they think deep thoughts, and with no more brains than you have... But! They have one thing you haven't got, a diploma!"

With that, Jack reached into a brown cloak he had in Manny's booth, he pulled out a diploma and handed it to North.

"Therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Universitatus Committeeatum e plurbis unum, I hereby confer upon you the honorary degree of Th.D."

"Th.D?" asked North

"That's Doctor of Thinkology," said Jack.

North put his right index finger to his head. "The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side." Then he realized, "Oh joy, rapture!" he cried. "I've got a brain! How can I ever thank you enough?"

"Well, you can't," said Manny.

Next, Jack turned to Bunny.

"As for you my fine friend," he said. "You're a victim of disorganized thinking. You are under the unfortunate delusion that simply because you run away from danger, you have no courage. You're confusing courage with wisdom. Back where I come from, we have men who are called heroes. Once a year, they take their fortitude out of mothballs and parade it down the main street of the city. And they have no more courage than you have. But! They have one thing that you haven't got! A medal!"

Jack reached into his brown cloak, handed out a medal and pinned it on Bunny's chest.

"Therefore, for meritorious conduct, extraordinary valor, conspicuous bravery against wicked wizards, I award you the Triple Cross. You are now a member of the legion of courage!" he announced.

Bunny dug his toe sheepishly on the ground.

"Shucks, folks," he said. "I'm speechless. And so shiny too!"

Now it was Sandy's turn.

"As for you my galvanized friend," said Manny. "You want a heart! You don't know how lucky you are not to have one. Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable. I could have been a world figure, a power among men, a successful magi, had I not been obstructed by a heart."

"But I still want one," said Sandy.

"Back where I come from," said Jack. "There are men who do nothing all day but good deeds. They are called philanthropists, otherwise known as good-deed-doers. And their hearts are no bigger than yours. But! They have one thing you haven't got! A testimonial!"

From the brown cloak, Jack pulled a heart shaped watch and chain.

"Therefore, in consideration of your kindness, I take pleasure at this time in presenting you with a small token of our esteem and affection," he said, handing the watch to Sandy. "And remember, my sentimental friend, that a heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others."

Sandy put the clock to his ear. "Oh, it ticks! Looks, it ticks!"

Jamie looked at the presents Manny and Jack bestowed upon his friends.

"Read what my medal says, courage!" exclaimed Bunny. "Ain't it the truth? Ain't it the truth?"

"There all wonderful," Jamie said.

"Hey!" cried North. "What about Jamie?"

"Yeah what about Jamie? Jamie next!"

Jamie peeked into Jack's brown cloak and saw it was empty.

"I don't think there's anything in that brown bag for me," he said sadly.

"On the contrary," Jack began before rummaging through the cloak before finding nothing. "Well, you forced me into a cataclysmic decision. The only way to get Jamie back to Burgess is for me to take him there myself!"

Jamie's expression turned excited. "Oh will you? Could you? But are you a clever enough winter spirit to manage it?"

"Kiddo, you cut me to the quick!" said Jack. "I'm an old Burgess boy, myself. Born and bred in the heart of the eastern wildness of New England. Premier trickster par excellence to my family, the Overlands, until one day, while skating with my little sister on a frozen lake never before attempted by any of my peers, an unfortunate phenomena occurred. I fell through the ice."

"You did?" asked Bunny.

"Yes," said Jack. "There was I, floating through a deep dark pond, a man without a continent!"

"Weren't you frightened?" asked Jamie.

"Frightened? You are talking to a man who has laughed in the face of death, sneered at doom and chuckled at catastrophe. I was petrified," admitted Jack. "Then suddenly a portal opened beneath the ground, and then I floated down into the heart of this noble city, where I was instantly acclaimed Jack Frost, the First Winter Spirit de Luxe! Times being what they were, I accepted the job of being Manny's assistant, retaining my flying abilities against the advent of a quick get-away. And in the balloon of the great Tsar Lunar, my dear Jamie, you, me and Manny will return to the land of E Pluribus Unum!"


	13. Going Home

Manny and Jack led the four friends into the center of Emerald City Square. In the center of the square was a platform containing Manny's balloon. Jamie gathered Abby into his arms and stepped into the basket of the balloon. His friends held down the ropes that tethered the balloon on the ground.

All the citizens of Amarganth came to say good bye to their two most powerful people.

"Good people of the Worlds of Wonder," announced Manny. "This is positively the finest exhibition ever to be shown. I, your winter spirit Jack Frost par ardua ad alta, are about to embark upon a hazardous and technically unexplainable journey into the outer stratosphere. To confer, converse, and otherwise hob-nob with my brother wizards. And I hereby decree that until what time - if any, that I return, Nicholas St. North, by virtue of his highly superior brains, shall rule in my stead...assisted by Sanderson Mansnoozie, by virtue of his magnificent heart...and E. Aster Bunnymund, by virtue of his courage! Obey them as you would me! And, well that's all."

Before the balloon could take off, Abby ran into the crowd and Jamie went after her, scrambling out of the basket. When North, Sandy and Bunny saw Abby run into the crowd, they dropped three of the four ropes to help catch her and the balloon started to rise.

"Come, Jamie!" cried Jack. "Hurry up, or the balloon will fly away!"

But he started flying too, and Manny lurched forward, grabbing onto the rim of the basket.

"This is a highly irregular procedure," he said. "How unprecedented, you've ruined my exit!"

Jamie ran after the balloon, Jack was reaching his hands out to help him into the basket when _CRACK! _went the ropes and the balloon rose into the air without him.

"Come back!" he shouted. "Don't go without me! Please come back!"

"I can't come back!" Jack called from above. "I don't know how my flying abilities work!"

As the balloon trailed off in the sky, Manny called out, "Goodbye, folks!"

"Goodbye!" replied the citizens of the Silver City.

Jamie was disappointed. "Looks like I'll never get home!" he cried.

"Stay with us, Jamie," said Bunny, trying to comfort him. "We don't want you to go."

"That's very kind of you," Jamie said sadly. "But this can never be like Burgess. Mom must have stopped wondering what happened to me by now. Oh, North, what am I going to do?"

Just then, a hummingbird shaped figure and three colorful bubbles floated above the square and over the heads of the crowd.

"Look!" said North. "Here's someone who can help you!"

The crowd stepped back to make room for the four figures: Tooth, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather.

Thinking that the four had returned to help him, Jamie curtsied before the fairies and asked. "Will you help me? Can you help me?"

Tooth smiled. "You don't need to be helped any longer. You've always had the power to go back to Burgess."

Jamie was surprised. "I have?"

"Then why didn't you tell him before?" asked North.

"Because he wouldn't have believed us," said Flora.

"He had to learn it for himself," added Fauna.

Merryweather stepped up to him. "What have you learned, Jamie?" she asked.

Jamie thought for a moment. "Well, I think that it wasn't enough just to see Mom and Sophie, and it's that if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with! Is that right?"

"That's all it is!" Tooth answered.

"But that's so easy!" said North. "I should have thought of it for you."

"I should have felt it in my heart," said Sandy.

"No, he had to find it out for himself," explained Tooth. "Now those magic boots can carry you to any place in the world in the wink of an eye!"

"Abby, too?" asked Jamie.

"Abby, too."

"Now?"

"Whenever you wish."

Jamie's heart flooded with joy. "Oh, that's too wonderful to be true!" But then he realized he would have to leave his friends. "But it's going to be hard to say goodbye. I love you all, too."

Sandy started crying, but Jamie wiped away his tears. "Goodbye, Sandy. Don't cry. Your sand falls out so dreadfully."

"Now, I know I've got heart," said Sandy. "'cause it's breaking."

Jamie kissed Bunny on the cheek. "Good bye, Bunny. I know it isn't right but, I'm going to miss the way you used to holler for help before you found your courage."

Bunny sniveled up his tears. "I never would have found it if it hadn't been for you."

Finally, Jamie turned to North and gave him a great, big hug. "North, you were my first friend, I think I'll miss you most of all."

"Are you ready now?" asked Tooth.

"Yes, I'm ready," said Jamie, waving Abby's paw. "Say goodbye Abby."

He took a breath.

"I am ready now," he said.

"Then close your eyes," Tooth instructed. "And tap your heels together three times."

Jamie did so, he closed his eyes and began clicking the heels of the silver boots.

"And think to yourself," said Tooth. "There's no place like home. There's no place like home."

Jamie repeated the words after Tooth. "There is no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like home."

Suddenly, his head felt dizzy, as if the world around him was spinning. Jamie closed his eyes very tightly and chanted the magic words as images and voices from his journey danced around in his head.

"_I'm an old Burgess boy myself._"

"_The Great Tsar Lunar has spoken!"_

"_H__e's dead. You killed him!"_

"_In a minute I shall…turn good again?"_

"_Look at the circles under my eyes. Is my nose bleedin'?"_

"_The sand god forgot to give me a heart."_

"_Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking."_

"_All you do is follow the Rainbow Road."_

"_I'll sodomize you my dearie, and your little dog, too!"_

"_Abby, I have a feeling we're not in Burgess anymore."_

"There's no place like home…"


	14. No Place Like Home

When Jamie came too, he was lying in his bedroom, back in Burgess. Mrs. Bennett was leaning over the bed, pressing a cool, wet cloth to Jamie's forehead.

"Jamie, Jamie! It's me, Mom. Wake up honey," cooed his mother.

Jamie blinked at the room around him.

"There's no place like home," he continued to chant deliriously. "There's no place like home."

"Jamie, Jamie, dear," said his mother, peering into his worried eyes. "It's Mom, darling."

Jamie stared, trying to focus. It was indeed his mother and his little sister was there, too.

"Oh, Mom, it's you!"

Just then, Professor Drosselmeyer popped his head through the bedroom.

"Hello, there!" he shouted. "Anybody home? I just dropped by because I heard the little boy got caught in the big storm." Then he spied Jamie in bed. "Well, he seems all right now."

"Yeah," said Sophie. "I thought he'd leave me."

"But I _did_ leave you, Sophie," Jamie tried to explain. "That's just the trouble. And I tried to get back for days and days."

"There, there, lie quiet now," said Mrs. Bennett trying to quiet her son. "You just had a bad dream."

"No," Jamie insisted.

Just then, Jamie noticed Claude, Caleb, Monty, Pippa and Cupcake who had been keeping watch over him as well.

"Sure," said Caleb. "Remember me and Claude?"

"And us, Pippa and Cupcake?" asked Pippa.

"You couldn't forget my face, could you?" chimed in Monty.

Jamie thought back on all he had seen.

"No. But it wasn't a dream, it was a place. And you and you and you were there," said Jamie, trying to piece it all together, then he pointed at Monty, then Cupcake. "You kept dozing off and you kept pulling your own cotton tail." Then he looked at Professor Drosselmeyer. "And you, you were a humbug."

The Professor chuckled nervously. "Well now, let's not get personal."

Everyone laughed as Jamie tried to think back, not knowing how any of this could be.

"But you couldn't have been there, could you?" he said, confused.

"Oh, we dream lots of silly things when we sleep," Mrs. Bennett said to appease him.

"No, Mom," Jamie tried to explain. "This was a real, truly live place. And I remember some of it wasn't very nice, but most of it was beautiful. But just the same, all I kept saying to everybody was, I want to go home. And they sent me home."

Jamie looked at his family and friends who were staring at him blankly.

"Doesn't anyone believe me?" he asked.

"I believe," Sophie said gently.

"And I am pretty sure we won't be hearing from Miss Hattie for a long time," said Mrs. Bennett. "Her car also got caught in the storm and she's been sent to the hospital."

Abby jumped up onto the bed next to Jamie, who gazed out at the warm friendly faces that surrounded him. Jamie grabbed Abby to him and hugged her tightly; knowing that he was safe and sound in his old home of Burgess.

"Oh, but anyway, Abby, we're home! Home! And this is my room, and you're all here! And I'm not going to leave here ever, ever again, because I love you all! And, oh, Mom, there's no place like home!"


	15. Cast and Author's Notes

**Cast:**

**Jamie (Rise of the Guardians) as Dorothy**

**Uncle Drosselmeyer (The Nuttiest Nutcracker) as Professor Marvel**

**Tsar Lunar/Man in the Moon (Rise of the Guardians) as the Wizard of Oz**

**Jack Frost (Rise of the Guardians) as the Wizard's Assistant**

**Forte (Beauty and the Beast The Enchanted Christmas) as the Wizard's Head**

**Fender (Robots) as the Gatekeeper**

**Wolly Mammoth (Cats Don't Dance) as the Carriage Driver**

**Stiock (How to Train Your Dragon) as the Guard**

**Caleb and Claude (Rise of the Guardians) as Hunk**

**North (Rise of the Guardians) as the Scarecrow**

**Monty (Rise of the Guardians) as Zeke**

**Bunny (Rise of the Guardians) as the Cowardly Lion**

**Pippa and Cupcake (Rise of the Guardians) as Hickory**

**Sandy (Rise of the Guardians) as the Tin Man**

**Tooth (Rise of the Guardians) as Glinda**

**Flora, Fauna and Merryweather (Sleeping Beauty) as extras with Glinda**

**Miss Hattie (Despicable Me) as Miss Gulch**

**Sora (Kingdom Hearts) as the Wicked Witch of the West**

**Sophie (Rise of the Guardians) as Uncle Henry**

**Flood (Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep****Hearts Birth by Sleep****) as Nikko**

**Mrs. Bennett (Rise of the Guardians) as Aunt Em**

**Abby (Rise of the Guardians) as Toto**

**The Smurfs as the Munchkins**

**Mamma Gingertree (Candy Land) as Apple Tree**

**Kronk (Emperor's New Groove) as Winkie Leader**

**Aztec Guards (Emperer's Now Groove) as Winkie Guards**

**Silver City Citizens (Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter) as Emerald City Citizens**

**Berkley Beetle (Thumbelina) as the Jitterbug**

**Author's notes:**

**Much of the context of the fanfic was taken from the Wizard of Oz novelization, movie storybook, script, radio dramatization and stage plays.**

**This is the third chapter in my Worlds of Wonder saga.**

**After receiving much reviews involving copyrights on some of my stories, all I can say is: All copyrights belong to their respective owners (I do not own anything).**

**Well, that's that. Hope you have enjoyed the story and please leave a review.**


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